It has been a great honor and privilege for LA Phil Board members and patrons to accompany our terrific orchestra on tour here in Caracas, Venezuela for the second half of our ambitious Mahler Project. The dual highlights of the trip for us all have been the incredible concerts performed by both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, as well as our life changing exposure to the music and participants in Venezuela’s El Sistema social action program.

We have witnessed first hand the power of El Sistema to change lives. None of us will ever forget seeing nearly a dozen different youth orchestras and musical ensembles perform inspirational and challenging works, many times from memory. This video was taken inside the main El Sistema nucleo in Caracas, and features the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra performing the song ‘Somewhere’ from a Leonard Bernstein “West Side Story” medley. This song, and all the other music we’ve had the pleasure of witnessing, speaks of Gustavo’s vision that music is indeed a fundamental human right.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this groundbreaking tour possible.

David C. Bohnett
Chairman of the Board

It’s finally here!

Today’s the day that The Mahler Project, all five weeks of it, ends in the most spectacular fashion imaginable.

Today’s the day that Gustavo leads the LA Phil, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and a literal cast of thousands in the gargantuan Mahler 8, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” live from Caracas!

Of course, you don’t have to be IN Caracas to see it – you can head on over to your local cineplex and see it in HD from the comfort of your very own movie theater seat. It’s the second installment of LA Phil LIVE, and it promises to be a movie-going experience like no other.

Check out some photos from rehearsal and watch the video below (provided by KUSC’s own Brian Lauritzen, freshly back from Caracas himself), then head to the theater to watch the “Symphony of a Thousand!”

And, of course, report back on Facebook, Twitter, the comments below, whatever – let us know that the broadcast satisfied your “Mahler Madness!”

LA Phil keyboardist Joanne Pearce Martin gives a little one-on-one instruction to a young pianist.

Many unforgettable memories have already been forged this week in Caracas and it’s an impossible task to summarize my impressions in a few words…but I’ll try anyway with this short list:

• Maestro Abreu himself greeting us at the gate as we got off the plane!
• The unbridled enthusiasm of the Caracas audiences
• The joy in Gustavo’s face as he joins together his Caracas & Los Angeles musical families in Venezuela
• The sound of a 1200+ chorus warming up in unison before our Mahler 8 rehearsal yesterday (I really can’t remember the last time I did the “wave” during a rehearsal…)

But this afternoon really took the cake. We were taken to the Teatro Teresa Carreño, not to rehearse or perform this time, but to witness an extraordinary event – multiple performances by thousands of El Sistema musicians who had gathered here from all around the country, JUST TO PLAY FOR US!

Upon exiting the buses, we were greeted by a rousing brass fanfare. Then a huge chorus, singing their hearts out, lined our passage from the street into an outdoor plaza. Here were three large orchestras, (one of them was 600 strong!) that we heard in sequence. All of them played from memory, and with every drop of energy they had. (a side note: one of the conductors looked like he was about 12 years old!)

Then we moved to an indoor theater with the stage jammed full of still more young musicians. WHAM! They launched into the last movement of Tchaikovsky 4 with vigor that was staggering, also all from memory. The audience went nuts, and the happy kids cheered and held their instruments high in the air with pride. The afternoon closed with an inspiring chorus of special needs youngsters. By the end of all of this, there was not a dry eye to be found anywhere.

Long before The Mahler Project started, I knew this trip was going to be special – I just didn’t know HOW special.

What a week!

I’ve joined forces with Dudamel and the LA Phil in Caracas, who have in turn joined forces with the young people of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (also under Gustavo’s direction). I’ll be doing hosting duties for the LA Phil LIVE broadcast of Mahler’s gargantuan 8th, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” in cinemas all over the US tomorrow at 5pm EST. I also get to see two extra Mahler concerts here, to see Caracas for the first time and to hang with the big LA Phil gang like a member of the family (or I suppose more accurately like an interloper at an enormous family reunion).

Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the trip has been our visits to the “nucleos” of El Sistema, the amazing Venezuelan program of music education for kids from 2 to 16 – surely the most extensive and sophisticated program of its kind in the world (the Simon Bolivar musicians are all graduates). Material filmed at these visits will make up a part of the introduction to the Saturday concert for US viewers of the broadcast.

I think I can say without exaggeration that it will be one of the best preparations for a concert and one of the the most thrilling symphonic experiences most of the viewers will have ever had. The interviews with Maestro Dudamel alone are a revelation. If you’re reading this, promise me you won’t miss it.

Editor’s Note: To find a theater near you that’s showing the LA Phil LIVE broadcast tomorrow, FEB 18, or to buy tickets, please visit the LA Phil LIVE site.

Editor’s note: While in Caracas, the LA Phil’s VP of Marketing Shana Mathur and YOLA Manager Dan Berkowitz made an unscheduled visit to the Sarria nucleo in a Caracas barrio. They collaborated on the following.

Sarria is located in a barrio of Caracas. It is poor and quite dangerous. It is part of a school, unlike most nucleos, that is owned and operated by the government. The children, ages 3-15, come from split homes, rampant with drugs, gangs and often abuse.

In the mornings, the school, with its peeling and crumbling walls, offers academics to its 600 students. In the afternoons, most students engage in the music program, at various levels, taught by the 26 music teachers.

Read more…

Photo courtesy of the LA Times

In addition to our excellent institutional sources on the ground in Caracas – who shall remain, of course, known only as “LA Phil Staff – there’s no shortage of press coverage of the LA Phil’s visit to Caracas.

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Just like when the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela came to LA for the hometown leg of The Mahler Project, the LA Phil has a healthy-sized educational component to its trip to Venezuela for the Caracas leg of The Mahler Project.

The Simón Bolívar Conservatory in Caracas

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Editor’s note: ClassicalKUSC’s Brian Lauritzen is traveling with the LA Phil during their trip to Caracas and reporting on the orchestra’s activities for the radio station. We’re incredibly gratified that he took some time out of his own reporting and producing duties to pen a guest post for us. You can see his updates from Caracas by following @BrianKUSC on Twitter or at the KUSC Blog.

Chatting with LA Philharmonic President and CEO Deborah Borda in the bar of our hotel in Caracas the other night, we realized that – other than the staff and musicians of the orchestra – no one on the planet has heard Gustavo Dudamel conduct the LA Phil in more performances of Mahler’s 9th Symphony than I have. I’ve been lucky enough to experience multiple performances of the work in Los Angeles, plus go to concerts in London, Paris, Budapest, Vienna, and now Caracas.

As a journalist and a classical music lover, the assignment of covering the LA Phil is one that I quite enjoy. Not only do I love bringing the orchestra’s radio broadcast series to Classical KUSC (and beyond), but traveling with the orchestra is an immense amount of fun. (And hard work. Last night I was up until after 4:00am writing blog posts and producing radio features. Suffice it to say I was not ready for the alarm to go off at 7:00am.) Part of my coverage of these LA Phil tours for KUSC is similar to what you’ve been reading here on this blog; I try to give a flavor of what it’s like to travel with a world-class orchestra and show a glimpse of what you don’t normally get to see behind the scenes.

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